Trump's businesses went bankrupt so many times in the 1990s that many legitimate banks wouldn’t lend to him anymore. He turned to Russian oligarchs -- Putin’s ruling clique -- to bankroll his projects, and launder their dirty money for them. This was, and continues to be, a huge part of his business. He’s a Russian money launderer.

This isn’t speculation or hyperbole. There's mountains of evidence. Trump’s former election campaign Chairman, Paul Manafort, has deep ties to Russian oligarchs, and is currently in jail awaiting trial on, among other charges, money laundering!

Here are 5 more top facts everyone should know about Trump's long collusion with Russian organised criminals -- forward this email and share it on Facebook -- we all deserve to know the truth:

1. Trump’s main financial backer for the Trump Tower Toronto was a Russian-Canadian billionaire who got the money by selling a massive steel mill in Ukraine for nearly a billion dollars. $100 million of that money was paid to a Kremlin-backed fixer, likely as a bribe to VERY high Russian officials. The Chairman of the Bank who financed the deal? Vladimir Putin.

2. Trump bought his home in Palm Beach, Florida for $41 million. A few years later, with no real increase in the value -- he sold it for $95 million -- the most expensive home in America at the time! Why? A major Russian oligarch bought it -- we don’t know yet why he effectively ‘gave’ Trump $54 million. But it’s classic money laundering practice.

3. Trump's real estate deals were often fuelled by Russian money, typically passed through shady shell companies. 77% of Trump Soho apartments were bought with cash by such mysterious companies. At least 13 people with links to Russian oligarchs or mobsters lived in Trump properties, including one of Russia's top mobsters. One even ran a high-stakes illegal gambling ring in the apartment right below Trump's!

4. Trump’s financial broker and “Senior Advisor” was a Russian convicted felon named Felix Sater, widely known as a mafia figure who once stabbed someone in the face with a broken margarita glass, requiring over 100 stitches. Sater helped set up shell companies, and arranged funding for Trump’s projects, including plans for Trump Tower Moscow. He’s also part of Putin’s inner circle. Here’s one email he wrote to Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen in November, 2015:

"Michael I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putins private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin. I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected. We both know no one else knows how to pull this off without stupidity or greed getting in the way. I know how to play it and we will get this done. Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will." - New York Times, August 27, 2017

5. Trump’s other main business is casinos -- which are classic money laundering vehicles. One of his casinos was 100 times found in violation of federal rules protecting against money laundering, and paid the largest fine ever levied against a casino for having “willfully violated” anti-money laundering rules. Trump has a legal obligation to do “due diligence” for all his businesses to prevent laundering. His senior executive’s comment on this was “Donald doesn’t do diligence."

The Big Picture

Putin is a former KGB officer who has used chemical weapons, assassinated people in other countries, invaded the Ukraine, occupied Crimea, shot down the MH17 airliner with almost 300 passengers on board, aided a murderous regime in Syria, condoned the beating and torture of gays, stolen up to $200 billion from his own people, hacked foreign elections and launched what NATO calls the largest hybrid warfare campaign in history to undermine western liberal democracies. He is also widely believed to have ordered the murder of Russian journalists and critics and bombed hundreds of Russian civilians to fake a terrorist attack and justify a war in Chechnya.

Why? Trump has been working for Putin's corrupt inner circle for almost 20 years. And it's that corrupt circle that promises to make him rich for the next 20 (he's refused, in violation of all ethics, to divest from his businesses as President).

Trump *may* be a Russian intelligence asset, he *may* have colluded with Putin to sabotage the US election. But what is clear is that he is a corrupt Russian money launderer, in the pocket of a KGB dictator. The whole world needs to know this, and rally together to prevent the damage this corrupt alliance threatens. Share this email with everyone…

PS -- scroll down for a TON of credible, trustworthy, fact-checked sources for everything in this email. Avaaz isn't one of those absurd troll publications that slings lies for profit -- we're a nonprofit, and every time we make an error anywhere, we publish the correction on our accuracy page, linked from the front of our website.

PPS -- if Trump the 'organized criminal money launderer' sounds like a stretch to you, consider it just the tip of the iceberg of Trump's known corruption:

His 'charitable foundation' is likely to be shut down for multiple examples of fraud.

Trump 'University' scammed legions of vulnerable people out of their money.

He had an affair with a pornstar and paid her to keep quiet -- she says she was also threatened with physical violence.

His ex-wife attested in court documents that he brutally raped her while tearing out her hair after he didn't like the hair replacement doctor she recommended.

Trump is not a devil -- he's a human being, and like all people he has positive qualities and legitimate views. But anyone who denies that he is deeply corrupt, isn't looking at the facts. To understand Trump, and protect our world from him, we need to understand his corruption.

The views in this editorial reflect the views of the reader/author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org

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Comments

As I mentioned, this kevin rodgers is just spoiling for confrontation. Implying I'm a female? What does that even mean? Or that could be a covert message in a lame attempt to irritate me. It's kinda sad that anyone would keep viewing this website time after time even though said person appears to dislike what's printed here. Must have a rather boring life in my opinion, if it's just to get negative reactions from others. Really though, there are other places more suitable for political agitators such as cragslist, yet it's no doubt a battleground where this person has lost a personal war.

He’ll be the best president he can be. Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as beaten men. Johnson would be a good example of that… Nixon, Clinton in a way, Truman, all the rest of them going back. You know, it’s like they all fly too close to the sun and get burned. Find the Center This is the direction but one side always feels the other is wrong. (sic) Sad
Eyes cast down...

doing some things that might've come from the other party's playbook. Nixon, a conservative Republican, created the Environmental Protection Agency to combat pollution, for instance. Clinton, a Democrat, enacted welfare reforms favored by Republicans. Reagan gave amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants. Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Japan,. Johnson, a southerner, signed the Civil Rights Act. I have yet to see Trump do anything that progressives would want, and some of his policies have been much more extreme than past presidents at least in our lifetime such as taking children away from immigrant parents, dismantling environmental protections, and rolling back some civil rights protections.

No "tips" or advice needed here, I'm quite sure that she knows what she's doing. If you detest this website so much, why do you drop in and read the articles and what we commenters post, then add your own comments which are obviously designed to agitate others? It's become quite obvious that you are just spoiling for confrontation. No need to get stroppy with any of us. I strongly suggest that since you don't like what's printed here, start your own news website which would cater to the readers of your choice. Your thoughts and opinions here will not change other's viewpoints. Especially since many of us have the intellectual ability to see through the rhetoric, and smoke & mirrors of Trump and his followers. This is her news magazine, and she will operate it the way she deems fit. If you don't like East County Magazine, then go away and read something more suitable to your taste.

Mr or Miss Grandfather.... You paint with a broad brush of internal troubles beset with monitarty anguish. Each stroke is ever so true in feelings of pressure when that one tick or dab drips to your unliking. A scrub of an eraser will not remove your anxiety neither will it warm your cold heart of your own left side views... Wake and understand but not linger in your deep regrets as you are not him dear sir or miss. You are not him or her, but more a jackal thats waits in the desert to condemn true thoughts of the views of others with spew that meets your not..

Subjective Views in that you defend in such a manner the appearance of full time editorial spewfulness Mr or Miss Grandfather. Tarnish the complete fruitfulness of such editorial meaning related to the public view of said editorial Website in a very disturbing expose leading one to only view this website in a slanted left only way, Why then would one support the views candidly of the other side partake in monetary embellishment to support such a spweful rag as said described. Many business leaders in this area see left leaning views and the open soap box it favors.

I don't know about investigaterussia org, but the rest of the sources here are rock solid, respected journalism orgs. History will look darkly upon this phase of the American experiment precisely because so many (an electoral majority even if a popular vote minority) were so blinded by their hatred and fear that they embraced this con man (and the NRA and the Heritage Foundation etc.) Although if you want to learn about how to play out a long con, there are reasons to pay attention to how they did it!

It's too bad these documents (like so many released by our government - to the public) are so heavily redacted. Because then we'd know without any doubts, what's going on within our government and what our 'leaders' are up to.

Carter Page, who was once described as an advisor to Donald Trump during the presidential campaign, recently had his attached FISA documents released indicating that he was/is an agent to Russia. Does that not indicate collusion and when will we see his indictment? See here.

For bringing this additional information to light. Yet what about his alleged misconduct with an underage girl many years ago? Can you expose the truth on this? Seems that the news of that was also buried very deep. Sadly, there will be many Trump followers who will continue to blindly follow him through the upcoming firestorm. Perhaps they are blind to the truth, or mindlessly stand loyal simply because he is president and that's what many of us are taught to do. I did not vote for Trump because I thought of him as a nasty excuse for a human being even then. The way he treated women verbally, his affairs, his shady business dealings, his incessant attacks on Hillary Clinton as a smoke & mirror tactic to divert attention away from the truth about himself, his constant putting down of Obama (look at everything Trump has been destroying which Obama did for this country) and his whiny, petulant voice. Oh yeah, and his LIES! The guy doesn't even seem to remember what he says from one day to the next, or he just lies about what he said, and far too many gullible people believe the B.S. stories he tells. The worst part about all of this? There are many more out there just like him and even much worse. These are probably his followers and admirers. Other countries are just about done with Trump's nonsense, and we citizens of the United States are going to pay a severe price one day. Let's hope the legacy of Trump can be staved off with the next president in 2020. Who will it be? Hopefully not another term for Trump. He's done enough damage and given the U.S. a couple black eyes. Enough is enough! I'd like to see him impeached, or at least incarcerated in prison for all his crimes (including the rest of his family and lackeys bearing guilt). Shame!